"because the PM was excited"

"If people have a problem with Warisan Merdeka, they should ask PNB who are building it, we are not using government funds. The reason why it was announced during Budget 2011 was because the PM was excited about it and wanted to talk about it,” said UMNO MP Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed.

(read the article here)

Faster

On Friday 15 Oct 2010, the Prime Minister unveiled the Warisan Merdeka 100 storey tower project that would cost RM5 billion. Seven days later, a community page called "No Mega Tower" on Facebook had gained 100,000 supporters. Within that week, the page (www.facebook.com/NoMegaTower) was blocked and then unblocked. Several news sites covered it and, over the weekend, another 50% more FB denizens "liked" the protest site. Not long after the clock ticked over to 00h00 this morning, the figure hit a staggering 170,000. (I did wonder what percentage is attributable to creative accounting --multiple accounts, anyone?-- and just how many of the Likers are actually Malaysians... but let's save that for a rant on misleading statistics another day.) The fact remains, the developments in the past 10 days have come so fast and so furious that it was literally a case of "blink and you'll miss it".

Speaking of "Blink", author of that bestseller, Malcolm Gladwell, who also wrote "The Tipping Point", recently opined in the New Yorker magazine on the phenomenon of wiki-activism. The Guardian did a fine analysis, part of which summed up Gladwell's position thus:

...Gladwell drew the following conclusion: that while social networks may be useful for some communication – to alert like-minded acquaintances to social events, or to solve a specific "weak tie" problem, such as the location of a bone marrow donor – they do not promote the passionate collective engagement that causes individuals to make commitments that result in social change. Facebook "likers", he argued, are not sitters-in or nonviolent activists, they are not even marchers or candle-wavers; they may wish to associate themselves with a protest app, but the nature of their medium means they do so with negligible risk and therefore negligible effect.

Do you agree? Read the full article here.

FOOTNOTE: The Edge quotes PNB as saying, "We are not taking the government's money for the project." That threw me for a loop. If PNB are footing the entire RM5 billion bill, why was this item included in the PM's Budget announcement? Can someone please explain that to me?

The Future is Calling...

Having used it once in Kuching, before Tuan Ravinthran JC in High Court III, I would heartily welcome the full implementation of teleconferencing in Sarawak:

"With this telephonic conferencing installed, lawyers can do their case management in the comfort from their offices, bedrooms or even while doing whatever they are doing. They save the trouble of having to struggle through the traffic jams which are becoming worse by the day just to spend two (2) minutes to get a hearing date."

(full speech by the CJ can be read here)

The Curious Case of The Lost Privacy

I was having a beer with an old pal last night and we agreed that, for many kids today, the boundary between one's private and public lives seems to have utterly and perhaps irrevocably disappeared. I'm talking about Twitter and Facebook in particular. As a curmudgeon of 42 (yes, get off my lawn, you damn kids), I'm telling anyone who'll listen to remember that what you tweet and shoot out to FB at the speed of light can be read by many, many people and it has a way of floating around out there forever, even if you try one day to delete your accounts. Teachers might read your rants, or people who might consider your university admission one day, or your employer, or your future spouse and, yes, god forbid, your kids. So, PLEASE, be discreet and think about what you are posting. Much of that is your business and none of mine...

Further reading: Neil Gaiman

The Crow

Yesterday, 20.10.2010, my blog was viewed for the 1,010th time. Allow me to thank you, my three loyal readers, for clicking here so many times! As my daughter would say: LOLs...

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Money often costs too much.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882)

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Can we try mediation, please? (picture credit: MSNBC)

Blabber and Blather (concluded... finally!)

Well that has been a hectic past week... I'd better finish this last post before something else comes up! But first, as we lawyers are wont to do, a disclaimer:

Right, now where were we?

I was explaining to these teenagers at HIP Cafe that there are different types of law in which you can choose to practise. The level of specialisation depends largely on where you work, for example, in a small town, the lawyers would be Jack of all Trades "general practitioners", whereas in large cities, there will be a very fine degree of specialisation into even rather arcane areas of law.

In Kuching, there are a number of broad fields. Some lawyers only do conveyancing. Others only practise criminal law. There are a number of lawyers who spend much of their time in the Labour Courts, while a few focus on the Family Courts. 

Me, I'm a civil litigator, which means I handle law suits between private individuals or corporations. What does that cover? Well people sue each other over everything! To that extent the civil litigator has to become knowledgeable in many different fields and industries, in order to adequately present their clients' cases in Court. 

Just to toss you a totally random example, what is crazing in tiles? In a dispute over the fitness for purpose of tiles supplied to a condominium project, I had to learn that small hairline cracks which appear can often be caused by a mismatch in the thermal expansions of surfaces. For that suit, an expert was flown in from Singapore to give his opinion on the various possible causes of failure in the goods sold and delivered.

We civil litigators also need to know who auditors report to (answer: the shareholders, not the directors of a company); what ministry issues permits to import vehicles (MITI); what neurological impact can diabetes have; what is overburden in a quarry operation; what are the requirements for masterplanning approval in Sarawak; etc.

I then passed the mike over to Gladys Lee, a very bright young lawyer currently with Tang & Partners, to field questions on requirements for university admission, etc. My knowledge in this area is around 25 years out of date, so if you have any questions after reading this blog, please don't hesitate to send enquiries to Gladys through me.

Blabber and Blather (continued)

Continued from yesterday's post, this is PART TWO of my talk to secondary school students at HIP Cafe on Monday 4 Oct 2010:

THE VERSATILE DEGREE
Graduating from Law School doesn't mean you have to enter private practise as a lawyer. Recent studies found that one-third of Australian law graduates are not practising law. Or, your practice of law can be as an in-house counsel in a large company, such as Shell. Some law graduates enter the public service, as legal officers for the State or Federal Attorney General or Public Prosecutor; while others may join the Judicial Department as Magistrates or Assistant Registrars, eventually heading to become Judges. Even if you take on a job that has nothing directly to do with law, such as business or management, a Law Degree would be considered extremely useful by prospective employers. Many students enter Law School on the wishes of their parents. A friend who was a couple of years behind me in Monash University came from a distinguished legal family and he was expected to join his uncle's firm and perhaps follow his father into the judiciary. However he came back with his law degree... and became a pilot. A very happy one, I believe.

COMIC RELIEF
You may have noticed that I've got little cartoons on top of these posts. They're from here. I was planning to tell some of my own favourite jokes in the middle of my talk, but I ran out of time and I also kinda ran out of nerve... a bunch of jaded teenagers seemed to me a tougher audience than a panel of Federal Court Judges! Just to get those jokes off my chest, I will inflict them upon you, here:

A stranger comes into a small town and asks a farmer in his field, "Do you have a criminal lawyer here?" The farmer replies, "Yup, but we've never been able to prove anything against him."


Another stranger comes into town, goes to its cemetery, and sees a tombstone which reads, "Here lies a lawyer and an honest man". He mutters to himself, "This cemetery must be so crowded, they've put two people in one grave."


Two guys have a car accident. They sit by the side of the road, shaking. One guy pulls out a hip flask and hands it to the other, who gulps down some whiskey gratefully. "Phew, thanks, I needed that. I'm a doctor, by the way." He hands the hip flask back to the first guy, who says, "I'm a lawyer and I'm not touching a drop before the cops get here."

Boom-boom. Maybe I should have told these jokes on Monday after all...

Check back here tomorrow for PART THREE.

Blabber and Blather

Monday night, HIP Cafe at The Spring Shopping Mall, I gave a talk about a career in law. Apparently a few young people wanted to come but couldn't because of exams and such. I told their friends I would post a summary of my speech, so here goes.
PART 1


ABOUT ME
I was born in Kuching and attended St Joseph's until Form 1, after which I went to Melbourne to complete my secondary schooling. I sat for the Victorian Higher School Certificate and scored enough marks to get into Monash University (though not the tougher Melbourne Uni) to do Law. In Australia, a number of the larger firms recruit students about to graduate in their penultimate year. I was offered to do Articles (known as Chambering or Pupillage in Malaysia) in Baker & McKenzie, an international firm. I learned a lot there, not just about the law, but also about how an efficient firm is managed and run. Halfway through my Articles year, a recession hit Australia and I was not offered a job with the firm. So I came back to Kuching to join my elder brother George, who already had an established practice here and the rest, as they say, is history.


ABOUT YOU
But enough about me. Let's talk about you, the students who are considering a legal career. Why do you want to take up law in university? There are a few common reasons: money, power, glamour or justice. Let me explode a few of those myths. 


If you or your parents are under the impression that law is the path to easy wealth or positions of power like a number of government ministers who started out as legal eagles, then think again. In today's marketplace in which competition is fierce, you must be prepared to work very hard and for a long time --you would likely need a healthy dose of luck, of being in the right time and the right place-- to really shine and succeed. Don't get me wrong, it can be done, but don't expect it to be Easy Street. It won't.


As for glamour, if you were brought up on a diet of courtroom dramas like Law & Order or, during my formative years, LA Law, well, practice is definitely not like what you see on the screen. In real life, the cases you handle can sometimes get very exciting as you pin the opposing witness down and expose him as a liar in the box, but it's still a very low-key affair, the opposite of glamorous. An onlooker sitting in the public gallery will be hard-pressed to even hear the answers often mumbled by the witnesses, much less appreciate that a momentous truth has been revealed to the Judge. Still, you will feel a sense of triumph inside, and that can be priceless.


Justice? In this day and age of media openness, especially web-based communications, it is easier for you teenagers to be exposed to tales of injustice, be it to minorities or the environment, and revelations of corruption and greed. Some of you may be moved to cry, something must be done to correct this. Well, in most cases, the legal framework exists, but there may be no one willing to take up the cause and fight for the oppressed. This is where you can make a difference as a lawyer. As I have quoted elsewhere in this blog, the worst thing is to do nothing just because you can only do a little. If that's your motivation to do law, blind justice, you have my encouragement, and my warning also, because it will not be an easy life ahead. 


Stay tuned for PART TWO...

HIP Career Guidance

HIP Cafe at The Spring (same level as MBO Cineplex) organises a series of Monday evening talks on diverse topics aimed at the youth. The latest is career guidance for secondary school students. Last Monday I attended an enlightening and funny talk by Min, one of the partners in Kuching's premier firm of architects, DNA.


Coming up, on 4 Oct around 8pm, I will give a talk about the law, aided and abetted by Gladys Lee, who will field questions on uni admissions and such. (My information on that is only 25 years out of date!) Tell your friends and come along.....

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MotoGP Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo of Spain in practice. (picture credit: MSNBC)

3 casualties notched up in Malaysia's War...

...on Humour -- in less than 30 days:

First, Namewee investigated over his foul-mouthed rap against racism.

Then, Hassan Skodeng charged over his Onion-style parody piece on TNB's intention to sue over Earth Hour.

Now, Zunar locked up over his funny pictures (to quote the man himself, Malaysia's progressed from "a fear of communists" to "a fear of cartoonists").

This country is in serious need of a funny bone!

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Patriotism is the conviction that your country is superior to all others because you were born in it.

George Bernard Shaw, writer, Nobel laureate (1856-1950)

The Wheels of Justice...

... grind slow, but they grind exceedingly fine, so the old saying goes. It appears however that these wheels are about to be kicked up a gear or three.

When I first started practice, almost two decades ago, it was not unusual for a civil case to take nine years to be concluded. Of course many cases moved faster than that, but nine years was far from the slowest case that I had encountered. Now Chief Judge Tun Zaki is announcing the launch of the New Civil Court in Kuala Lumpur, whose stated aim is to dispose of all new cases filed there within nine months.

You heard me right. From nine years to nine months. Does this mean we're finally a developed nation?

Run, Cary, run!

To my friends at the Bar in KL, my Brothers and Sisters in Law, I wish you well. Such expeditious dispensation of justice is a noble goal... but at what cost?

UPDATED TO ADD:

Today, our judicial officers and judges work very hard.   It is commonplace to hear of trials starting at 9 am and going on until 8pm.   But judges and lawyers are human.   If they are pushed beyond endurance, we may have to build a hospital almost as large the courthouse next to it.   While it is important to clear the backlog, it is equally important to ensure that true justice according to law is done.   As justice delayed is justice denied, so too is justice buried when hurried.

Gopal Sri Ram, former Federal Court Judge, full speech may be read here.

This is J L A Dot Com.

A first grader in Tbilisi, Georgia, attends his first English language class on Sept. 15. Hundreds of native English speakers joined the first day of school as teaching assistants under an ambitious program to have every child aged five to 16 speak English. English is now compulsory, and Russian optional. (Picture credit: MSNBC)

Karpal: Bar Council can act

Veteran lawyer and MP Karpal Singh disagrees with Bar Council president Ragunath Kesavan that the council can monitor only the professional conduct and practice of lawyers and has no authority to look into their personal lives.

“I am somewhat taken aback by the statement of the Bar Council president,” Karpal said in a press statement today.

“Section 94 of the Legal Profession Act 1976 empowers the Disciplinary Board to take action against any advocate and solicitor for misconduct, including striking off the rolls," he said.

Karpal said Section 94(3) defines misconduct as conduct by a lawyer "in a professional capacity or otherwise" which amounts to grave impropriety. It includes being "guilty of any conduct which is unbefitting of an advocate and solicitor or which brings or is calculated to bring the legal profession into disrepute".

"This subsection brings, within its striking range, misconduct in private life."

Full article in the Sun Online by Tan Yi Liang can be read HERE.

Hungry for some common sense

Me: "When you've sued someone for RM100 and there is an attempt by him to settle, you cannot insist on receiving RM100. Are you saying you won't listen, to hear if he wants to pay you RM80 or RM90? What if he wants to pay you RM99?"

Irate client: "I won't listen."

Sigh. Some days are better than others.

On a happier note, I attended a dinner talk organised by the Judicial Dept Club, on Native Customary Land and ADR in Papua New Guinea. The distinguished speakers, both Supreme Court Judges in PNG, impressed me with the advanced mediation practices adopted in their homeland. As Justice Ambeng Kandakasi put it, PNG is a third world nation, but I am convinced it has a first class judiciary.

Notice the same colour scheme as our Sarawak flag?

Despite waiting until 9 p.m. for dinner, we were enthralled to hear also about the Constitutional Powers given to Judges to bring their own Motions to prevent Human Rights abuses. Food for thought, said our Chief Justice of Sabah and Sarawak, Tan Sri Richard Malanjum, just before we tucked in to a delicious multi-course Chinese dinner.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little. 

Edmund Burke, statesman and writer (1729-1797)

This is J L A Dot Com.

This is a topographical image of the rarely-seen dark side of the moon.
The smiley-face crater at 10 o'clock is saying: "Don't Worry, Be Happy..."